Middling Paranormal Horror The Boogeyman (2023) Takes on Familiar Story of Trauma
Title: The Boogeyman
First Non-Festival Release: May 31, 2023 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Rob Savage
Writer: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Mark Heyman
Runtime: 98 Minutes
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Losing a loved one can be one of the hardest things a person endures in life. People experience grief in different ways. Sometimes the ways we cope can have an additive effect on our own processing, as well as that of others.
The Harper family knows this all too well. Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) lost their mother in a tragic car accident and are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. As they must return to school, their father, Will (Chris Messina), must start his therapy practice up again to continue paying the bills. One day, a man (David Dastmalchian) walks into his house begging for an appointment. After complaining of a terrifying entity following him around, the man leaves shortly afterwards. Not too long after, Sadie returns from school to find him dead in their closet and face-to-face with whatever terrified him.
The Boogeyman delivers a competent yet derivative take on familial trauma and supernatural terror.
An already fractured family facing the consequences of, yet another traumatic event makes for a great setup to an otherwise fine movie. Clear, metaphorical horror seems to be all the rage in the last decade, and some films are great about mixing subtlety with powerful premises. The Boogeyman isn’t one of those movies. Every aspect feels choreographed to emphasize just how dysfunctional this family is, but it doesn’t come through in either the writing and the performances. The on-the-nose infection metaphor of grief is over-stated and quite literally explained to the audience in, what should be, a climatic battle for their lives.
The problem with The Boogeyman is that it lives and dies by its family dynamic, and despite great individual performances by its cast, they don’t work well together. Sophie Thatcher gets the most opportunities to work with Chris Messina and Vivien Lyra Blair to craft their struggling family unit. The other two hardly interact with each other. Even still, the group seems to run into terror on their own more frequently than not, making it difficult to establish their relationships to one another. Then, even when they do interact, at any time at least two of the crew look uncomfortable or awkward together. It’s often not the same two each time, the group alternates, which says more about their chemistry and cohesion as a unit.
Outside of their nighttime adventures, there isn’t much interaction happening. It's thanks to this static dynamic that makes the third act so stale and underwhelming. Little is invested in the story for the family, so the audience has little to care about when they are finally fighting back together. Of course, this is a puzzle piece in the overall message of the story, but that shouldn’t excuse The Boogeyman for failing to make that broken dynamic believable.
Impressive cinematography shows that director Rob Savage has a terrifying vision aching to break through the mediocre script. Visually, The Boogeyman is a fun and exciting horror experience that comfortably shows that PG-13 has the capabilities of being scary when helmed by competent directors. Unique camera angles and tilts allow the horror to creep in from every inch of the house, fully committing to the extended metaphor of the tendency for grief to rise from the cracks of broken foundations. Savage does best when he plays with light, allowing the tension to explode whenever the family must evade the creature in the light or carefully tread in the dark.
Its central monster works in inconsistent yet terrifying ways that show promise in a more emotional film. The actual Boogeyman in this film has a wicked design. It looks creepy, unnatural, and predatory in the best of ways, making the horror more potent than it has a right to be. Despite a few shaky cgi moments, it largely feels natural and looks like it lives in the world, even if just in the shadows. Smart camerawork plays tricks on the viewer to maximize suspense and play off the creepier aspects of its main baddie. If only the script allowed the entity to fully realize its power instead of dulling it shine.
Passable popcorn horror, The Boogeyman is an okay film that gets by on the technical prowess of its director. Its inoffensive and easy-to-follow storyline paired with a strong sense of direction, makes this a no brainer for studios. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down by its overused and undercooked metaphors along with its central cast’s odd chemistry. There are worse examples of PG-13 horror out there, and The Boogeyman deserves a look at the very least to see if there’s enough light in it to shine bright on potential viewers.
Overall Score? 5/10
